PacWave is the largest wave energy test site in the United States. Located off the coast of Newport, Oregon with some of the strongest wave energy resources in the country, this test site acts as a proving ground for developers of wave energy converters, supporting the advancement of this new technology.

PacWave is a test facility built by a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office and Oregon State University. PacWave itself does not conduct any research, but provides the necessary infrastructure, guidance, and permitting to successfully deploy other investigators' objectives offshore. PacWave has also partnered with the Pacific Marine Energy Center (PMEC), National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to assist in environmental monitoring and accredited testing.

PacWave consists of two test sites:

• PacWave North is an established autonomous test site for small-scale, prototype, and maritime market technologies. PacWave North is located in shallow, state waters roughly 2 nautical miles offshore and is persistently monitored (wave, metocean measurements, and habitat surveys).
• PacWave South is a state-of-the-art, open ocean wave energy test site that is pre-permitted for the testing of up to 20 wave energy converters, with a maximum power output of up to 20 megawatts. PacWave South is located about 7 miles offshore on the outer continental shelf in roughly 65 to 78 m of water and consists of four berths that cover a 2-square-nautical-mile area.

Collected data is available to the public on MHKDR. PacWave Site Observations include buoys to measure ocean and atmospheric conditions including wave statistics, water currents, wind speed and direction, salinity, and water temperature.

Browse PacWave Datasets Visit the PacWave Site Watch an Overview Video